Chapter 255 - Aberrations
255 Aberrations f𝘳𝚎𝑒𝚠𝑒𝚋𝘯o𝘃eƖ.co𝓂
Even though they were strong by the standard of the current era and their powers kept increasing after joining the conquering king, but they were still lacking and weak as children compared to their ancestors.
Dozens of evolved demihumans were lined up on either side of the throne room, while the conquering king himself sat on a divine adamant throne at the end of the room.
There were no guards or soldiers in the room, but only because it wasn’t necessary. All present were mighty, the best of the best of their respective races.
Despite being in important surroundings and surrounded by the top commanders of his entire army, the conquering king was lying lazily on his throne and drinking wine from a bottle larger than a human being.
His sword was propped on the throne and he was completely relaxed and posture was full of openings, but every evolved demihuman in the room could sense that he was ready to kill anyone who would step forward to challenge him.
It was a custom in the age of giants that the strong would show their servants arrogance and contempt, showing that they were so beneath them that they didn’t even need to worry about their presence.
Showing any kind of tension was the same as saying that his servants were a threat to himself and his authority.
All evolved demihumans, on the other hand, were visibly tense and weapons in hand, eyeing each other vigilantly as they waited for an opportunity to fight and rise above their rivals.
Although they were all allies and servants of the conquering king, they were also rivals of each other and unlike human societies, political discussions were decided in fights and the winners would be right, regardless of what their opinion was.
.....
There were no different clans, as they were all under the banner of the conquering king, so the demihumans present were the strongest of each race and acted as their representatives and champions, all of whom were in more advanced stages of evolution than their peers.
Representatives of almost every race were here, with the exception of two of them who were busy working under direct orders from the conquering king, so none of the other representatives dared to criticize them for it.
They had all been summoned to the hump of Atlas to discuss the outcome of the first invasion, but not a word had been spoken since they arrived and the conquering king was too busy enjoying his wine and combing his prodigious beard to worry about them.
They had no means of confirming the outcome of the battle themselves and they were all eager to find out how the conquering king can confirm the outcome from a continent away, but they were all looking at each other and urging others to step forward and speak out.
“My liege, all representatives of all races are already gathered here, with the exception of those who are carrying out your orders elsewhere. I believe that your majesty can already share with us the results of the battle so that we can send the next wave of soldiers. ” One of the evolved demihumans finally ran out of patience and boldly stepped forward.
He was a Solar, a species of demihuman that existed exclusively on the continent of Doravon. Its original appearance was that of a five meter humanoid with red skin and flaming hair.
After agreeing to join the Conquering King though, his body grew to nearly 15 meters and his entire body glowed like embers, the air around him looking distorted by his body heat.
Flames generated by his own body molded into a flaming kimono, but he left the top open and displayed his bulging muscles proudly.
Their racial ability ancient flame allowed them to control flame and shape it as if it were physical, even giving substance to fire. Flames afflicted by this skill would not extinguish while in contact with a solar and could sustain for some time after moving away from the solar.
The conquering king stopped scratching his beard, and with him the entire throne room. No one dared to take a step or make any move that might draw the king’s attention.
The king’s gaze fell on the solar evolved, making the latter shudder in fear. There was no mana or murderous intent in the king’s gaze, but the sheer contempt the solar evolved could sense was enough to paralyze him.
“I’ve called you all here to be informed of the battle’s outcome, not to ask your opinions, so stay still and silent until I order otherwise.” The conquering king spoke as low as a whisper, but the throne room began to shake as the demihumans broke out in a cold sweat.
Once again there was no mana or any kind of malicious intent in his voice, but the demihumans still felt pressured for some reason they couldn’t understand.
The solar evolved knelt in submission without saying a word, sure he would be killed if he moved even a step. The invisible pressure disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared, allowing the demihumans to breathe normally again.
The conquering king went back to absentmindedly scratching his beard, heedless of the evolved demihumans around him, and no one else had the courage to step forward and speak.
Minutes that felt like hours passed while the evolved demihumans just stared at each other nervously, until a sudden knock on the door caught everyone’s attention.
“Don’t just stand there and go inside.” The conquering king spoke as he looked at the door, more precisely at the demihumans standing behind it.
The door opened without making a single sound and a dozen evolved demihumans walked in, their eyes sparkling with excitement.
The demihumans that entered the room were 4 meter humanoids, being one of the shortest demihumans in the throne room, second only to the evolved goblins.
His appearance, however, was anything but human. Its skin was light green while blue scales covered it, giving demihumans a blue-green tint. Its head was shaped like an octopus, its nostrils and ears being just holes in the skull while its eyes were blood red and short tentacles grew where its mouth should have been.
Even though it wasn’t visible because of the tentacles covering part of its face, it had a mouth with four rows of sharp fangs and no tongue, the species was unable to speak.
His body had none of the usual muscles of demihumans, some appearing obese and others oddly thin, in stark contrast to most demihumans’ muscular, lush bodies.
They were aberrations, an extremely unique race of evolved demi-humans exclusive to Caprio. They were different from most demihumans, possessing high intellect and bodies not suited for battle, though still strong in their own way.
If most demihumans were warriors, aberrations were excellent strategists and commanders.
When the evolved demihumans adopted the conquering king’s ideal of supremacy of the strong, the aberrations were the first to be targeted by the stronger races, but quickly proved that they were not as weak as they appeared.
They only had a telepathy ability before they started to evolve, as their specific race was not able to speak and it was their only way of communicating.
After starting the process of evolution, on the other hand, their mental abilities evolved and they were now able to use various skills using only their mind, their effects bordering on magic. They were the demihumans with the most diverse abilities.
Among his mental abilities was sensory sharing. They could “mark” other beings and feel whatever they felt through any of their senses.
The aberrations used this on all the generals and tracked the performance of the entire army, so they knew everything that happened in the different battles and came to report now that all the evolved demihumans died or settled on the continent.
‘I salute you, my king. The battles on the continent of Caprio mostly ended in defeat at the hands of humans, but several ships further south managed to set up camp.’ The aberration in front was twice the size of the others and spoke through telepathy, its strange excitement contrasting with its words and confusing the other representatives.
“And why are you laughing at our defeat, you wretched aberration? Do you think that’s funny?” The representative of the evolved orcs roared in annoyance, just the mention of having his people defeated enough to trigger negative karma and pump mana through his body.
They were just rejects who had been expelled, more so they were orcs and it pissed him off to the core.
‘Because all the battles were extremely interesting! Although most humans are extremely weak, there are some exceptional individuals among them who are capable of killing demi-humans like ants.’ The aberration representative ignored the orc’s irritation and spoke excitedly, the tentacles on his face twitching in what should have been a smile.
“You dare call my orcs ants?!” The orc representative yelled and took a step forward to intimidate the aberration representative, but his body suddenly levitated for a second before being blasted against the wall.